The Alphabet of Us
by horrifyingvelciraptor
Summary: A strange pair. Mismatched. Disconnected. Perfect, unusual puzzle pieces. This is us.
1. A-Amy

A is for Amy

In the beginning, her name is Amelia. She is a quiet, observant baby, then an adventurous toddler. She grows into an inquisitive child and blossoms into an independent young woman. She has her own opinions and she will voice them.  
She has high highs and low lows and the doctors tell her she'll get through, just keep taking the medicine.

Then along comes the boy who captures her heart with one glance. She keeps quiet about her feelings for years and when she finally tells him, at a high school dance, he rejects her. She doesn't know why. All she knows is the next low feels dangerously like she will never be happy again and no amount of anti-depressants can help.

The boy who drowned slips into her life, spilling through every crack and chip in her diamond hard walls. In her highs, he gets high with her. In her lows he holds her and tells her it will be okay, because after a storm comes a rainbow. His love breaks her and rebuilds her. She rises from the ashes of her past life like a phoenix. Her name is Amy. This time she will not be broken.

She will not bow.


	2. B-BEN

B is for BEN

He doesn't remember dying in vivid detail. He doesn't remember who killed him or why. He doesn't remember his last name or where he lived or anything about his previous life. All he knows is he couldn't breathe and there was no one there to save him. When he woke up, they'd taken his eyes.

He remembers the first time he saw her. She was getting a litre of milk and a tub of butter at a local shop. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and she wore jeans and a Green Day t-shirt and trainers. She got the milk and butter and walked home in the pouring rain, coat pulled tightly around her. He followed her. This was the girl he'd been talking to on Cleverbot, he was sure of it. Her house was a cozy little bungalow, her bedroom at the front. He waited a good ten minutes for her to come back into her room and take off her coat. That night he snuck in through her TV and watched her sleep. It was so intriguing, the rise and fall of her chest, the beats of her living heart. He had a heartbeat but death had claimed his soul. Teen fiction books, rock CD's and notebooks lay scattered everywhere. He knew in that moment, he had to keep her. He loves her more than anything else and he means it when he says "I'd die again for you."


	3. C-Cute

"You're so cute!" Amy says to BEN one afternoon.

He raises an eyebrow.

"Thank you?" BEN smirks.

"No, you are though." Amy says, pinning him between the counter and her body. They're making cookies because it's Saturday and hey, they have nothing better to be doing. Also, Sally has homework which she has agreed to do quietly on the grounds of a promise of a lukewarm cookie.

Amy kisses BEN on the lips and toys with the soft tip of his left ear. She pulls back and reads his eyes for a moment. BEN smiles and pulls her in again. His fingers stroke along her jaw.

"How - may I ask - am I 'cute'?" he looks beyond smug.

"There's the ears for a start. Then there's the hat." Amy grins, playing with the neckline of his t-shirt. BEN tilts his head back and chuckles, a devious grin playing on his lips.

"Ah yes, the hat." he whispers.

"Fangs, laugh, general demeanour." she lists, trying not to laugh.

"Get a room you two." Sally mutters. BEN chuckles.

"What's so funny?" Amy asks.

"You." he replies before flipping them around and kissing her fiercely.

"You're cute, too, by the way." he grins as the timer goes and Amy, blushing like a tomato, rescues the cookies from the oven.


	4. D-Drowned

Drowned

The cold, clear lake runs along by my side like a loyal puppy. I catch glimpses of the water through the trees, a child playing hide and seek.

It's cold for April and I zip my navy hoodie up to my throat.

I glance over at him. His eyes are closed and his breathing shallow.

I lace my fingers with his and give them a reassuring squeeze. His eyes flutter open and we exchange anxious grins.

"You ok?" BEN asks, taking a deep breath.

If I'm honest, I'm as nervous as a very small nun at a penguin shoot. This is the first time he's brought me here, first time he's brought anyone here.

The last time I was here, I drowned.

I swallow my nerves and nod.

We walk through the woods like the ground will swallow us at any moment.

The further in we get, the trees seem to stretch taller and higher, swamping us in their monstrous shadows.

BEN leads me down the thin winding path that lead me to my death last year. His grip on my hand is near-suffocating, and I can tell he's trying to keep his fears locked inside her head.

The water rushes over the rocks, the deepest part of the water calling to me, laughing, inviting me to repeat my death.

I shudder and wobble along those ten steps to the water's edge.

BEN tightens his grip on me, like I'll fall in if he lets go.

His skin is so pale it's almost grey and he's shaking all over the place, but he steadys himself enough to extend his right hand over the undulating silver river, and drops a single smooth, grey pebble into the water.

It sinks under the waves to join the eleven others he's dropped into the depths of that river, marking twelve years since he died here.

I trace circles on the back of his hand with my thumb.

He gives me a weak smile and we walk back to civilisation hand in hand, him leaving his demons here until next year.

How lucky he is.

I will be back here in October, with him or without him, I don't know, but no one should envy me.


End file.
